lovely
by J. R. Pharoah
Summary: Aqua has never seen herself as beautiful, but Cinderella gives Aqua a few reasons why she is. All in the many pearls of the necklace Cinderella made just for her. Aqua/Cinderella


Author's Note: Written for FemSlash February. The Kingdom Hearts girls need more love! Be on the look out for more femslash stuff this month!

lovely  
an aqua/cinderella story

.oOo.

Aqua has never felt beautiful.

Her legs are too skinny, she thinks, and are marred with bruises on her knees and cuts on her shins.

She's too thin and too athletic with muscled arms and small hips.

Her hair is too short, as to keep out of the way when she fights, well, aside from her long bangs. She hasn't had a haircut since who knows when, and she never does anything to fix it up and make it look nice. It just hangs, limp and boring.

Her face is plain. She's never felt the need to wear make up, and her eyes look so tired. Countless hours of training and battles will do that to a person.

And she's not very feminine. Even if her breasts are large and her shorts are short. She's been raised around men. Terra, Master Eraqus, and Ven. So she's never really known the feeling of getting all dolled up. She doesn't know the feeling of elegant cloth around her torso, nor long dresses sweeping the floor. Such garments would only get in the way.

And the first woman she sees in a long time is Cinderella. With her hair up and kept, her eyes shining and her lashes, full and dark. Her cheeks are rosy, and her lips are shining and pink.

She wears the most beautiful dress Aqua has ever seen. Blue and white cloth, falling over her delicate shoulders and the material cascades over her legs to where it reaches the floor, but doesn't hide her delicate feet that fit into the prettiest, crystal heels she's ever seen.

Aqua has always felt her feet were rather big for a girl.

And so Aqua holds her hand out like a gentleman when Cinderella makes her entrance down stair after stair. Aqua will let Cinderella shine and is happy when the whole room stops just to look at her.

Aqua thinks Cinderella is the epitome of beauty.

Aqua stares into the full-length mirror in Cinderella's bedroom and looks at the scabs on her rough knees, looks at the dirt and tears in her bodice, and sighs.

"What's the matter, Aqua?" Cinderella asks as she walks up behind her friend and smiles, eyes crinkling and sparkling like star dust.

"Oh, nothing," Aqua realizes Cinderella has caught her, and she smiles a forced sort of smile.

"Here, I have a present for you," Cinderella says as she leaves to her bedside table where a jewelry box sits. Cinderella had the mice help her gather the materials needed to make her new friend a present. She had caught Aqua staring into the mirror before, saw the way she eyed herself with such scrutiny that Cinderella could sympathize with.

When dressed in rags, Cinderella had never felt as beautiful as she felt when she realized she had made her own dreams come true.

"A present?" Aqua asks as she blushes. "Oh wow, you didn't have to."

"I know, but I wanted to. Don't be modest," Cinderella says as she pulls out a necklace, pearls strung about, and holds it out for Aqua to see. "Me and Jaq made this for you. I hope you like it."

"W-wow, it's lovely." Aqua takes it, holding it up to herself in the mirror, and she realizes she has never owned something so beautiful. In fact, she has never owned any sort of jewelry, unless her Wayfinder could count as that. "What's this for?" She asks as Cinderella walks up behind her again, and takes the necklace and fastens it around Aqua's neck.

"I just wanted to do something nice for you. In return for all the wonderful things you and your friends have done for me."

"It's beautiful, I'm not sure it suits me," Aqua says, as she stares at the beautiful pearls around her neck that didn't quite suit anything she had ever owned. It was so lovely, maybe too lovely for her.

"It suits you perfectly. Every pearl on here was something I found lovely about you."

Aqua blushes again, turning around to face Cinderella with a bashful look. "R-Really? But there are so many," she says, and Cinderella laughs, placing her hands on Aqua's shoulders and turning her back around again so she can look, truly look at herself.

"This pearl," she says as she points to one of the many, "is for your hair. I think its quite lovely. The color is exquisite, I even told Jaq I'd love for him to find me some material of this color so I could sew myself a dress."

Aqua runs a hand through her hair. She had never really thought the color was all too interesting.

"And this one," she says, as she points to another, "is for your strength. I find it beautiful that you have so much strength. Strength to fight and strength of heart. More than I have."

"But Cinderella," Aqua says as she smiles and tucks a strand behind her ear. "you have so much strength. You had enough to follow your dreams."

"Well, this one," Cinderella says as she points to another pearl, "represents your dreams as well. Look at you. A Keyblade Master, is that what it's called? Everything starts off as a simple dream, and I admire that you've followed your dream of becoming a Keyblade Master as well. You have so much more strength than you realize. And I find that to be beautiful."

Cinderella explains how one pearl is for Aqua's eyes, big and blue and shining even without the help of glitter. Another pearl is for Aqua's fighting style, which Cinderella says appears like a dance, fluid and poetic in the way Aqua moves. She doesn't have to dance in the ballroom with a gown to be the center of the attention.

"And this one?" Aqua asks as she points to the largest pearl at the very center., and feels a warmth in her heart.

"That one is for your friends. You have friends that are so near and dear to your heart. I can see how much you truly care about them, and how much they respect you." She smiles. "See the one beside it? That one is for your heart. Far bigger than of anyone I have ever met."

"Cinderella, this is all so kind of you," Aqua says as she looks at Cinderella through the mirror, and touches the necklace, lets her fingers slide over the smooth surface of the pearls.

"True beauty is within. Your heart, your friends all represent the beauty that shines within you."

And they both share a smile.

"And you know, it doesn't hurt that you are a beauty to look at as well."


End file.
